• Charges that being barred from participating is a serious violation of freedoms

Media activists have expressed their displeasure against a journalist being denied access to the last week’s Cabinet press briefing allegedly due to not being in possession of the media accreditation card issued by the Government Information Department.

In a letter addressed to Health and Media Minister Dr. Nalinda Jayatissa, the Sri Lanka Working Journalists Association (SLWJA) expressed strong condemnation regarding the incident, which they charged was a “serious violation of media freedom and of freedom of speech and expression.”

The letter read that during the Cabinet media briefing held on 8 May, Lanka Sky News Editor Shantha Wijesooriya was denied entry to the department’s auditorium premises, and that the reason given by the department was that the journalist did not possess a media accreditation card issued by the department. This, the SLWJA said, was despite the journalist being in possession of a journalist accreditation card issued jointly by the International Federation of Journalists and the SLWJA, as well as the official identification card of his media institution.

“We consider this a grave act of suppression against media freedom and freedom of expression in Sri Lanka,” the SLWJA said, pointing out that this incident occurred one week after a statement made by the Minister that only journalists possessing the accreditation card issued by the department would be allowed to attend such press briefings. It opined: “We view this as a direct threat to journalists’ right to freedom of expression and an attempt to restrict access to government media events solely to government-approved journalists. This action reflects a pattern of media suppression that has been a hallmark of past government administrations.”

“We believe that requiring journalists to carry only government-issued identification for access is a means of restricting media freedom and subjecting it to State control,” the letter further said, adding that if the Government is genuinely committed to supporting a free media environment in a democratic society, then the process of issuing media accreditation should be handed over to an independent institutional mechanism, and all professional journalists should be granted access to cover Cabinet media briefings.

Attempts to contact the minister regarding the allegations levelled were not successful.